The TL;DR June 4, 2018

This week we're talking about new tools for Facebook groups, creating social media reports, and secrets of social media marketing.

Facebook Launches New Tools for Groups Management

Facebook has been putting more and more focus on groups lately, and they recently released a suite of new tools to help improve how they run. Read the full article here.

The TL;DR

A Groups tab will soon exist in the main app.

Group leaders can now preapprove certain members’ posts so that they don’t have to manually approve every single update.

When admins or moderators remove a post for violating the rules, they can now notify people of what rules they broke.

Admins and moderators can also add notes to the admin activity log when they remove a post so that other group leaders can see why certain decisions were made.

Facebook is adding admin-specific support, allowing admins to submit an issue or ask a question and receive an answer from Facebook.

7 Steps for Creating Effective Social Media Reports

Having a social media strategy is important – but it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t measure it. These seven steps will help you prepare a useful report. You can read the full article here.

The TL;DR

Identify Stakeholders: Figure out who you will present your reports to, as that will determine their format and what is highlighted.

Establish Your Goals: Decide what determines success for your brand and figure out how often you want to pull and present reports.

Ask SMART Questions: Figure out what questions you want to answer and set KPIs. Make sure they’re specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time limited.

Choose Which Metrics to Track: The sheer number of metrics you can track on social can be overwhelming, and there’s no reason to check every single one. Decide what matters for your stakeholders and KPIs and only track those.

Choose Which Tool: After deciding what you want to track, you can look into tools. Make sure you ask the providers where they get their data, the quality, their relationship to each social network, and what the future plans are for the tool.

Reporting Time Frames: Decide how often you want to pull reports – weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.

Presenting Your Report: Don’t just present a list of numbers. Create data visualizations, use charts, and show examples of the content you’re analyzing.

8 Secrets No One Tells You About Social Media Marketing

Not everything about social media marketing is as clear as the latest algorithm shift or social network update. Here are eight things you may not know. Read the full article on Social Media Today.

The TL;DR

There are no shortcuts: There is no quick fix way to know exactly what will work. It takes time and experimentation to learn what works for your brand.

It can be tedious: To stay on top of things you need to constantly be analyzing, researching, crafting content, testing, and figuring out what works.

A big or fast following isn’t always a measure of success: If your competitors suddenly have a surge in followers, that doesn’t always mean that their strategy is working. It could mean they dumped money into ads or bought fake followers. That’s not to say that a large following is bad, but look at more than just followership when judging success.

A lot of time goes into engagement: With the sheer number of social media accounts out there, engagement is one way to stand apart. Taking the time to reply to comments, like what followers tag your brand in, and interact with others can help your brand perform better in the social space. Most algorithms favor engagement.

Not everything can be directly tracked: While you can track many things on social, you can’t always perfectly predict how a post is going to perform or how many steps a user will take before they choose to purchase from your brand. Be patient and you’ll figure out what works for your brand as you go.

Things change quickly: Platforms are constantly updating algorithms, adding new features, and changing how they run. Make sure you’re always staying on top of the quickly-changing nature of social.

Your social media marketer needs creative help: Sometimes campaigns will require more creative than your social media manager has the skills to create. Make sure you’re giving them the resources they need to create winning content.

The industry is saturated: There are media people out there who say they can do social when they mostly have one-off ideas and can’t create consistent results. Make sure you do your homework to stay ahead of the curve.